


Formal Apology

by Easy4Weasley



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Costume Party, Fluff, Hogwarts Eighth Year, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-01 09:02:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18332873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Easy4Weasley/pseuds/Easy4Weasley
Summary: Draco uses the end of year costume party to apologize to Harry.





	Formal Apology

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to the wonderful goldfwish for the speedy beta <3 Check 'em out!
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldfwish/pseuds/goldfwish

Harry shouldn’t have come.

He’d been looking forward to this party for months and now he’d rather be just about anywhere else. He’d thought about staying up in his dorm and skipping the party altogether, but he knew his friends would come looking for him. They’d come looking for him and instantly know that Malfoy had broken his heart. 

Things were just getting good between everyone; friendships and relationships beginning to form between former houses, and Harry didn’t want to be the cause of that getting messed up. So instead, he was standing in the corner of the eighth-year-common-room-turned-costume-party, brooding into his butterbeer.

Hermione and Pansy had insisted that costume parties were “all the rage” and had spearheaded the campaign to get an end of year party approved by Professor McGonagall. Harry would say he was surprised they had managed to pull it off, but Pansy and Hermione were forces of nature on their own, and together they were damn-near unstoppable.

This was Harry’s first costume party and he had been planning costumes in his mind for weeks. He’d been giddy with excitement as he told Draco his costume ideas, babbling and gesticulating and failing to notice the look of confusion and downright horror on Draco’s face. He groaned as fresh embarrassment flooded him along with the memory.

_ “Potter, hold on a minute. You want to dress as a couple for the party? You want to go to the party as a couple?” He had asked, looking as if Harry had just asked him to marry him in the Great Hall. _

_ “Well, yeah! I just thought, you know, we’ve been together a couple months...I thought it might be fun.” Harry didn’t understand why the idea was so absurd. _

_ “Oh.” _

_ “Oh?” _

_ “Yes. Listen, Potter, I’m just having a hard time understanding. I didn’t realize you thought of us as a couple.” _

_ “Of course I do! What else would we be?” _

_ “Fucking. We would be fucking.” _

Harry’s heart had felt like it cracked down the middle. He and the little bit of his pride that was left had made a run for it.

“Oh Harry! You look great! Is that Sirius’s jacket?” Hermione said, interrupting his revery. 

“Yeah, it is. It was perfect for the costume. I just threw up a quick glamor on the back so I could be a T-bird for the night. Thanks for helping fight my hair into submission earlier.” He scratched the back of his neck to keep himself from running his fingers through his styled hair and gave his best friend a sheepish smile.

He had to decided to dress as Danny Zuko from the muggle movie  _ Grease. _ He’d had enough hair and the right clothes to pull it off without much effort. It also didn’t hurt that he could spend the night cocooned in his godfather’s old leather jacket to help stave off some of the heartbreak and hurt he felt. If there was ever a night that he needed a comfort blanket, it was tonight. Seeing as he couldn’t show up wrapped in his father’s invisibility cloak, the warm and buttery leather would have to do.

“And you! You look brilliant Hermione. I’m kind of shocked though. I didn’t assume you’d ever willingly turn yourself into a cat ever again.” The smile he gave her didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“It wasn’t my first choice, believe me. But wait until you see Ron! It’s totally worth reliving the horror of Second Year. You’ll see.”

Sure enough, not two minutes later, Harry spotted Ron. He was still tall and his hair still had a ginger tint to it, but there was no denying who Ron was meant to be.

Filch.

Even Harry’s sour mood couldn’t stop the snort that rose at the sight of him.

“Ha! You’re Mrs. Norris. Brilliant! Really, Hermione, that couples costume award is all but yours!” He chuckled again as he saw Ron making his way to the food table, imitating Filch’s walk  _ perfectly. _

“Oh, but...Where’s Draco?” Hermione asked, clearly confused.

Harry’s stomach dropped.

“Um, I-I’m not sure. I’m sure he’ll show up sooner or later,” he said, trying to keep his voice even.

“I guess I just assumed you would be coming together. You know, as a couple,” Hermione said, carefully sensing Harry’s discomfort.

“Yeah, me too ‘Mione. Turns out, one of the requirements of a couple costume is you being a  _ couple _ . According to Draco we are only fucking,” Harry spat.

“Oh, Harry...I’m so sorry. It’s just I thought...I mean-- I guess I was under the impression that-” 

“Me and you both, ‘Mione,” Harry cut her off.

Seeing his friend's face filled with worry made him regret his words instantly. He plastered on a smile and reached out to rub one hairy shoulder.

“Hey! Don’t worry about me. I’m fine. It just stung a bit is all. Come on, let’s go get some food and enjoy this brilliant party you put together.”

Her face softened and she blushed a bit at his compliment.

“It is sort of brilliant isn’t it?” 

As they crossed the room to the refreshment table, Harry couldn’t help but scan the room for a certain blond. The room was filled with magical and muggle costumes alike. He saw Merlin, a cowboy, several teachers, a myriad of magical creatures and, if he wasn’t mistaken, one person (was that Blaise Zabini?) had come dressed as  _ him. _ But no Draco. He sighed heavily and set to the task of filling his plate.

The night went on, a whirlwind of laughter, music, and fun. Harry tried to keep a smile on his face and did his best to have a good time. The sting of rejection, however, was ever present. 

“Thanks for coming everyone! I hope you’ve all enjoyed yourselves this evening. Pansy and I put a lot of thought into this evening. We really wanted to celebrate a year that has truly been like no other. We really hope it’s a night you won’t soon forget.” Hermione's sonorous-ed voice rang through the room. “If everyone planning to participate in the costume contest would please make their way to the judging areas, a group of staff will be with us in just a--” 

“Granger, if you don’t mind, I have something to say first.” Hermione's voice was cut off by one Harry would know anywhere. He jerked his head around so fast he felt his neck twinge.

Malfoy was dressed in a grey three-piece muggle suit with a white shirt and black tie. He looked fucking  _ edible _ and Harry couldn’t have stopped his eyes from roaming that lithe body if he’d tried. Around Draco’s neck hung a piece of parchment that read: “I’m sorry.”

“I have spent the entirety of this school year apologizing. I have apologized for who I was, things I said, what I did, and what I believed. I will continue to be sorry for those things for the rest of my life. I am not proud of the person I was or the actions and words of that person. Tonight I came as a formal apology.” He spread his arms to indicate his costume, earning himself several snickers and a few cheers from the assembled crowd. 

“I came here tonight to apologize to a person who has come to mean more to me than I ever thought possible.” His eyes met Harry’s as he continued, “I hurt this person and for that I am truly sorry. I never imagined I would find someone so  _ good _ that would be able to see me as anything other than the boy I was in my past. The idea of someone taking time to know and understand the person I am today and actually like that person is, quite honestly, terrifying to me. I’ve never let myself just  _ be _ with another person before. I’ve never let myself completely remove the masks I’ve always hidden behind. When I realized, I had I freaked out and pushed this person away.” He tore his eyes away from Harry and addressed the room at large once more. 

“I am through hiding and I am through apologizing for who I was. I am not that person anymore. That person wouldn’t have had the courage to confront his feelings to himself, let alone a room full of his peers. The person I was before wouldn't have fallen in love with Harry fucking Potter.” His eyes met Harry’s again and the affection Harry saw there threatened to take his breath away entirely. “That person  _ definitely _ wouldn’t have had the courage to come to a costume party wearing this…”

His voice trailed off as he grabbed his wand from the breast pocket of his coat, closed his eyes and began mumbling spells. His suit seemed to sparkle and then the room was bathed in a flash of white light.

When Harry’s eyes adjusted to the sight before him, his jaw nearly hit the floor. Draco stood in the middle of the room in a tight black shirt baring his midriff, leather pants that were practically painted on, and red heels. Harry nearly choked on the saliva flooding his mouth.

Draco was Sandy.

Harry couldn't decide if he was shocked, moved, or turned on. Maybe he was a bit of all three.

He crossed the room in four long strides and took Draco in his arms.

They didn’t win the couples costume award, but Harry felt like he’d won nonetheless.


End file.
